


Trickster

by Marmar001



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), F/F, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29942196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marmar001/pseuds/Marmar001
Summary: I wanted to pick up this fanfication I had been writing years ago after writing like one chapter of it and yeah, I suck at summaries so...Tony has produced his newest recruit, a nobody from nowhere with powers that can pack a punch. But after a dodgy first two missions, her powers start to develop at an alarming, detrimental rate. The Trickster will have to put old relationships to rest and finally face up against her own emotions to take control of the reins again. Can she do it though? Does she have what it takes to be a real Avenger? Or is she hopelessly destined to fail to protect what's dearest to her over and over again?
Kudos: 1





	Trickster

Runa wished she could stop her leg from bouncing. Excitement, nerves, anxiety, for all the good being an empath did her, she could never unravel the tangles of her own emotions. As her leg bounced, her insides were contorted. The shiny seats of the limo were too slick, and she slid down the leather again and again and again, so she had to shift herself back up every few minutes. And she was sure Stark could feel the shaking too.

He was watching her keenly, which she tried to pretend she didn't notice. Instead, she gazed out the window at the passing buildings, passing high-rises. The streets were all familiar to her - Manhattan once her home - but the view seemed almost alien to her. The low setting of the limo made the buildings look taller. They loomed, snide and leering, although that could’ve just been the nerves speaking. The stonework looked dirtier, greyer through the black-tinted glass and she wondered how the rich weren't more depressed viewing the world like this.

Tony Stark looked more tired in person without the airbrushing of television and magazines but that didn't take away from his air of self-importance and smugness. To Stark, Runa was his newest catch, his latest prized possession, and more importantly, another tool in helping keep the world safe. Another member to add to his retirement fund. A treasure even, considering how hard it had been to find her. A news piece about a teenager saving a family from an out-of-control truck downtown Manhattan. A brief piece of poor camera footage was all he had to go on. A glimpse of a girl with dirty, wiry black hair and ill-fitting clothes. Disappeared right after the incident. She had no school records, no known address, no known name, no birth record. As far as the state knew, this girl didn't exist. The public had taken to referring to her as a ghost; he had almost begun to believe it true. Then, finally, the right transactions had been made to the right bank accounts and she had been pinpointed to a rundown skatepark nestled between crumbling apartment blocks and grim looking offices near the Patterson Houses. Tony always got what he wanted, someday the rest of the world would see that.

"Stop shaking your leg so much, would you? I feel like I'm sitting on a washing machine here."

"Sorry." Runa stopped shaking her leg. Her hand started bouncing around on her knee instead. "Just nervous."

"Ah, you've got nothing to be worried about, kid. Believe me, I wouldn't have spent all that time and money finding you if you weren't good enough to do this."

Runa thought about it, nodding. 

"So how much?" She grinned.

"How much what?"

"How much am I worth?"

"I'm not telling you that."

"Ah, come on! You have to tell me!"

"It was enough. Too much if you keep asking me."

"Ass," she muttered to herself.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing!"

“That’s what I thought,” he chuckled.

She went back to looking out the window. The buildings outside had been steadily getting more and more extravagant. Taller, cleaner looking, even through the tinted glass. They were getting close.

The limo swung a right through a set of tall gates and down a short tarmac driveway to pull up at the front doors. Avenger's tower was fucking huge. She couldn't even see the top of it from the car. And suddenly she couldn't face leaving the car. She should just head back home. She’d seen the news; they were heroes inside that building, gods, super humans and just freaking incredibly awesome and cool people that have all saved the world just two, no three years ago. She was in over her head here. 

Turning towards the scientist beside her, Runa found her leg shaking double time again as she began to form excuses in her mind. Stark was fiddling with his phone and Runa took the time to really look at him while he was distracted. She could tell just from looking at his face that he had had many sleepless nights recently. His dark stubble was longer than would be considered handsome and his bloodshot eyes were rimmed with dark bruise-purple bags. 

"Mr. Stark?" she said quietly. Tony looked up. "I'm not so sure about this anymore, um. Like, I'm not really hero material ya know, and I'd probably just get in your way and I-" 

"We had a deal, kid," he interjected. "You said you could take being an Avenger, and now I'm holding you to that." He opened his door and slid out. "And I don't need to remind you how disappointed your buddies would be if you backed out now." He called back in before closing the door on any rebuttal she had.

Runa rushed out after him, grabbing her backpack from the floor. 

It was cold out. Autumn was coming early. Leaf-littered wind rushed round the compound, depositing debris in her rats-nest hair and sending shivers down her spine when it hit her exposed neck. The change of temperature from the stuffy heated limo was nice, refreshing. She could think clearly. Tip-tap-tap. Tip-tap-tap. Her fingers played out a rhythm on the car door as she squinted through the pale light that reflected off the walls of glass. 

"Jarvis!" Tony called towards the entrance to the tower. "Add Runa to your trusted personnel list and get the others assembled in the conference room where we'll meet them.” 

"Certainly Mr. Stark. Right away." A speaker called in reply.

"Right, we've got about five minutes until the riffraff will be gathered and ready. Let's get going." Tony strode purposely towards the tower, Runa rushing after him as the limo finally pulled away.

"I-is Jarvis your secretary?" Runa asked.

"I prefer “robot butler” but sure, go figure."

"Welcome Ms. Shaw," the speaker said again as Runa crossed the threshold.

"How the feck does it know my name?" Runa exclaimed.

"Jarvis is connected to every data server in the world, so he knows virtually everything about everyone. As for you, it's the file I created for you during my research." Tony ushered her into the building, through the ceiling high glass doors.

"Great. Stalker-bot as well as butler-bot."

Runa was taken straight through a swish foyer to one of two elevators. There were no buttons on any of the glass walls, Tony addressing Jarvis once again before the lift shot up, leaving her stomach trailing behind at her feet.

“This meeting is just to get you introduced to the team,” Tony said. “Don’t worry about the others, they act tough but they’re all just dorks underneath.” He scratched his chin. “Well, except Nat maybe, but don’t worry about her, she’ll get used to you quick enough.”

Runa listened as she watched doors pass, too fast a speed to count. This must be what Charlie felt like his first time on the Great Glass Elevator she mused.

“We’ve no currently active missions, although we’re on the hunt for something that was stolen from SHIELD during its fall to Hydra but until we find it, you’ll be put through a training program to get you to a similar fitness level as the rest of us. When we do find what we’re looking for, you’ll still only be observing rather than participating in the actual mission, so there’s no need to worry about shaping up anytime soon.”

“Right,” Runa replied. The lift had stopped so smoothly that she hadn’t noticed. A strong, heavy hand was placed on her shoulder as the doors slid open quietly on a large living space; a worn red L-shaped sofa and matching armchairs in a sunken sitting room, kitchenette in the corner and glass walls with views out over the entire city. Another wall separated the room from a board room directly opposite the lift doors where five people were already waiting. They didn’t turn to look at them, thanks be to gods, meaning Runa could get a good look at them as she was led forward by Stark’s hand.

“Wait, Stark, um. Can we not mention my mother too much if that’s alright,” she said, turning, pleading eyes meeting his. “I just, don’t want them to hate me before they’ve even met me, ya know?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever kid. No skin off my nose either way. The longer you wait the harder the blow it’s going to be to their trust in you, just remember that.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

Stark got her moving again. Runa turned her attention back to the boardroom. 

Leaning against the glass wall, big, bulky, tall, incredible shoulder muscles; Thor; relaxed, a little playful, confident. A man on his right; short, bed head salt-and-pepper hair, shoulders pitched forward, slight hunch, shirt and jacket; Banner; underlying fear, worry, beneath a thin layer of happiness. Leaning against the conference table, lanky, toned, boyish features, chuckling, lopsided smile; Rodgers; focused, curious, comfortable. The far side of the room, smirking confidently, sculpted, powerful, controlled, redhead; Romanoff; emotions subdued, collected under a shield of bold self-assuredness, until happiness and longing spiked when she looked at Banner. Strange.

Romanoff’s eyes lifted from Banner and fell on Runa. All traces of emotion drained from her face and reading again, and Runa felt her adrenalin levels spike in that instant. Prey. That was what it felt like to be under the daggers of Romanoff’s eyes and she wished she could turn around and walk back out of the tower. Although now that she thought about it, turning her back on the spy didn’t seem like a great plan either.

“He’s here.” Her voice was husky, deep, and dripped like treacle. Two words, and Runa felt like a fly in the Black Widow's web. Fuck. 

Everyone else in the room looked out at her, and Runa found herself shrinking from the attention. People of power had an aura, a confidence that made her want to bolt every time she picked up on it. Extroverts. Gods, she hated normies so much.

Tony opened the door to the room and ushered her in, hand still on her shoulder. “Right, let’s get things swinging, shall we?” 

The others moved to their seats, leaving the end closest to the door and the seat to its left free. “Got yourself a friend there Tony?” It was Rodgers that spoke. He smiled at Runa as she took her seat, which she returned awkwardly. The leather was cold on her skin and she pulled at her skirt hem to try and cover her legs a little better. 

Her eyes met with the man to her left, and she suddenly felt at ease. His sky-blue eyes were friendly and inviting, and he was the only person in the room, bar Banner, who didn’t read as a hero. He just read as... Runa struggled to find a word for it. He felt like a dad, her dad, and the thought immediately embarrassed her. His smile was warm and contagious, really contagious.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet my newest recruit -” Tony rapped a drumroll on the desk “- Runa Shaw. I managed to catch this one down the backends of the Bronx after a little bit of top-notch sleuthing work if I do say so myself. Now, go around the room and everyone introduce yourselves."

"Oh, you don’t have to, really. I already know who everyone is," Runa rushed to say. 

"Runa," Thor said, tapping his chin. "That's an unusual name for a mere mortal human to have."

"Thanks, my mother gave it to me." It was true. Runa was an old Norse name, aptly meaning 'secret'. Her mother had a sense of humour. 

"What makes you think you can be an Avenger Runa?" Rodgers asked her from the seat opposite her. It wasn’t a challenge, just a genuine question. 

She shrugged. "Frankly, I don't, but Stark here seems to think I have what it takes." 

"Runa has some powers that will come in useful to us," Stark said. He patted his hand on her shoulder again to emphasize the point. 

"Powers? So, she's inhuman then?" That was Banner.

"I prefer the term, special," Runa cut in. "Inhuman makes it sound like, evil or something. Lacking a moral compass or whatever. It's just a few little tricks really." 

"Tell 'em kid," Stark encouraged.

"Well," she thought for a moment, looking for the right phrasing. "I can like, harden my body against impacts, and take the energy from the impact and store it for a short period of time. Converting the kinetic energy to chemical and storing it. And I can read emotions too." There was some nervous shifting around the room. "Emotions and moods, so confidence as well as plain old happiness."

"Can you do that with anyone?" Barton asked from beside her.

"Yeah. It’s like a sixth sense, so my brain is constantly picking up emotional data from around me, filtering and filing it subconsciously, so it’s a bit like white noise unless I actually focus on sensing it."

"Could you do us?" Romanoff spoke for the first time. Runa had to look past Barton to see her. Blue irises - so pale they were almost grey - pierced into her soul again. An involuntary shiver ran straight up her spine.

"Oh, uh yeah, sure." She swept the room, reading everyone's emotions again. "Everyone has an underlying level of curiosity, Stark is mainly smug and a little bored and impatient -" he shrugged "-then Rodgers has a strong focused air, like he’s trying to cram for a test. -" he smiled a little more, like he was confirming what she said. "-Barton is primarily curious and interested, with a little bit of endearment like he's watching - I don't know - a David Attenborough program. -" he chuckled, which made Runa smile "-Banner has a whole load of tension under a layer of intrigue. -" He looked a little relieved at her toned-down report. A bit of his tension drained away."-Romanoff, under a mask of cool, confident emotionless... grey matter, has just a comfortable contentedness, almost endearing, like, like someone looking at a kitten or something, -" she smiled a little, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head to the side, “-and Thor is in just like a playful dreamlike happiness if I’m honest. Like a - like a dog I guess." Thor started, while Stark guffawed loudly beside her.

"You’re comparing me to an animal?" Thor exclaimed.

She raised her hands quickly. "I'm just telling it how it is."

"That's impressively detailed, and… accurate." Romanoff said.

She shrugged in reply.

"Runa is also very strong and fast, with a bit of training I’d say she could put you through your paces Cap," Tony said, once he had finished laughing. 

"Oh no, no I highly doubt that" she quickly said. 

“Where did you get your powers from?” Rodgers asked her.

“Uh, yeah. That would be my mother too.” Runa glanced desperately over at Stark.

He got the message, thankfully.

“Right, well if we’ve all finished with small talk, I figure we can head to the gym and let Runa give us a little demo.” He stood from the table, everyone else following suit. They made their way out of the room and back towards the elevators again, and Runa had the sudden realisation that they might all be planning to squeeze into one of the small lifts. She wasn’t ready for that level of proximity with any of them yet. But thankfully, Stark brought them through another door to a wide stairway made of frosted glass, leading them down one level. Rodgers fell into step beside Runa who glanced up at him, smiling.

“You’re not a native of America,” he said.

“No, I was born in Ireland. In Cork, waaay down south. Lived there until I was ten.”

“I’ve never been to Ireland I’m afraid, although I’ve heard it’s very picturesque.”

“It is yeah. Well, Cork city is a bit of a kip if I’m honest. All the cities are really. The buildings are all grey and boring carbon copies of each other. At least here it feels like an architect had some input in the building design. Once you get out to the more rural areas though it’s nice. Green.”

“Do you miss it?”

“I miss the people. And the weather, believe it or not. Sounds crazy, I know considering the amount of rain we get.”

“You’ll have to give me a tour of the place sometime between missions.” He smiled, and it felt like he meant it.

The door from the stairs lead to a huge sports hall. The vaulted ceiling was high and airy, the wood panelling pale. In front of them was a boxing ring, surrounded by a couple of benches, and a few punching bags and other boxing looking equipment. The far wall, all glass, was lined with exercise machines that Runa had no hope in naming. They all looked fancy and expensive though. 

“Right Runa, if you want to hop into the ring, you can have a go at fighting us all one by one.” Stark said.

“What?! Wait now Stark,” she started to babble. “I’m nowhere near ready to fight any of you. I-”

He laughed. “Only joking with you. Now, how do you want to show off your energy-converty-thing?”

“I guess, someone could just hit me?” She looked at the heroes in the room, assessing each of them again. “Who’s the strongest Avenger physically?”

“Well, I think we can all agree that that would be me.” Thor stepped forward, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Now, hold on a minute.” Stark cut in. “No way you could match me with my suit.” 

“I am a god! Your human machines have nothing on me.”

“Oh yeah, wanna bet?” Stark stuck his hand out, robotics flying from seemingly nowhere to fit themselves around it, interlocking to form the arm of his Iron Man suit.

Runa ran to the two sizing each other up, jumping up to grab each of their shoulders, a testosterone induced haze of bravado flooding her mind. She worked on counteracting it quickly, replacing the anger with calm, bravado with a little bit of self-consciousness. The men blinked, their brains working to acknowledge and accept these unexpected feelings. 

“Heh, testosterone, am I right?” Runa laughed awkwardly, backing away from them again. “Em, so for fear of causing another incident, I’ll just ask you, Rodgers, to do the honour.”

“The honour...?” He was looking over at Stark and Thor, brow creased in thought.

“Just, punch me as hard as you can.”

That seemed to get his attention. “Wait, no. That doesn’t seem like such a good idea.”

“I can take it, really.” She smiled reassuringly. “I stopped a truck doing like 50k the other day. This shouldn’t be a problem.”

“You stopped a truck? Wait, that was you? On the news?” Banner looked her up and down, reappraising her. 

“Yup. Managed to get away before the news reporters showed up though thankfully.”

“Not a fan of the limelight?”

“Not when they’d paint me as a hero just for being a decent human being. What was I going to do, watch the truck crush them?” She chuckled darkly. “Anyway, are you going to hit me or what?”

Rodgers rolled his shoulders a bit, stepping in front of her. “You’re sure about this?” 

“Just hit her already Steve, for crying out loud!” Tony exclaimed, now recovered from the emotion conversion.

“Well, here goes nothing I guess.” Rodgers rolled his shoulder out and punched Runa, hard. She braced herself, taking the blow square in the stomach. They watched her, watched Rodgers’ fist make contact and slow like it was hitting rubber, rather than skin. A green webbed lighting spread along Runa’s skin, travelling down her limbs and up her face, disappearing just as quickly. It was like the ripple on water’s surface after a small pebble is dropped in. Runa let out a long breath, straightening up again.

“See, perfectly fine.” She grinned. The punch had been stronger than she expected, and she hadn’t compensated for the extra pain she had felt at the impact. She was careful not to let it show though.

“That’s... wow,” Rodgers said, flexing his fingers. He would have experienced some pain too, not as much as her though. 

“Thanks,” she smirked.

“So, you’ve now stored all the energy from that punch?” Barton asked.

“More or less. As I said before, a little will have been lost in the transaction.”

“And you can now use that yourself?”

“Yup.”

“I want to see.” Romanoff stepped forward, taking Rodger’s place in front of Runa. “Hit me.”

“I’m not sure that’s a great idea Nat,” Stark warned. “She’s now got Steve’s strength plus her own, are you sure you can take it?”

“I’ll be training her in hand-to-hand, won’t I?” She looked at Stark questioningly. “I need to see how hard she can hit.”

Stark threw his hands in the air defeatedly. “Your funeral.”

“You’re sure about this?” Runa murmured. Her fingers had started twitching with energy looking to be released.

“I said I was, didn’t I?” She cocked her eyebrow. With Runa’s thick heeled boots, they were more or less eye-to-eye. It felt like a challenge. 

Runa punched, willing all the excess energy in her muscles behind the motion as she made contact with the Widow’s sternum. The redhead was pushed back a few stumbling steps, but kept her composure, smiling even. Runa blinked in surprise. She had drained most of her energy in that one strike, and this woman barely even reacted. Romanoff began to walk around her, eyeing her up and down like one would a finely tailored suit, and she struggled to stay still under her gaze. Her eyes met with Starks across the room, and he gave her a thumbs up. Was this some kind of test? She had never sat a test before. Fuck.

“She’s certainly got potential.” Romanoff said from behind her. “Stance and technique are sloppy, and there’s the lack of confidence and trust to deal with, but I can deal with all of that.” She finished her revolution and smiled at Runa for the first time. “I say yes.”

Yes? Oh, yes. They were voting. Voting on letting her in. Stark had made it seem like joining the team was a given.

“If Nat thinks she can do it, then I’ll say yes too.” Barton smiled.

“And if Tony trusts her, then I guess I trust her too.” Banner said.

“The more the merrier I say,” Thor called, his voice resounding from the hardwood walls.

Tony smirked. “You know my answer already.”

“Well, that’s settled then.” Rodgers grinned his face of America grin. “Welcome, Runa, to the Avengers.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've spent a while reworking this to the point where I'm anywhere happy with it so please let me know what you think in the comments and whether you want me to continue with this work.
> 
> Also leave tag suggestions too because I don't really know how those work lol.


End file.
